Good relationships key to medical success

January 25, 2006

There's more to medicine than, well, medicines. Relationships are crucial to successful treatment and to patient satisfaction, said Richard Frankel, a professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "Successful outcomes lie not simply in the mechanics of medical care, but in the social and emotional context of the doctor-patient relationship," said Frankel, who co-chaired a recent conference on relationships in medicine at IU's Regenstreif Institute. Doctors participating in the conference said key medical relationships include not only that of doctor and patient, but also relationships between members of the medical team and between the medical team and the patient's family.